Jordan Spieth: PGA Tour player-directors being encouraged to meet Saudi PIF chiefs
Jordan Spieth says players on the PGA Tour board are being “encouraged” to meet with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund amid ongoing talks about a merger with LIV Golf.Negotiations are continuing between the PGA Tour and the PIF, which funds the fledgling LIV circuit, about a deal which could end the split in the game.
They failed to reach an agreement by a previous deadline at the end of 2023. “We are being encouraged to potentially meet with them,” Spieth said.The American was answering a question about a report in Golfweek that the tour’s player-directors were set to follow commissioner Jay Monahan in meeting with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who is also Newcastle United’s chairman.
Spieth is one of six player-directors on the PGA Tour board, along with Tiger Woods, Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Webb Simpson and Peter Malnati. Asked when a meeting was going to happen, the former world number one added: “I’m not sure that I can say much more other than we’re being encouraged to potentially meet with them.
“But at the same time we probably feel like our membership should know timings and what could happen… “There’s not a whole lot more I can say about that, but we are being encouraged… I think [it] is probably a good thing that the entire board should [meet] if there’s going to be any potential for a negotiation.”
The emergence of the LIV circuit in 2022 has fractured men’s professional golf. Several top players, including Masters champion Jon Rahm, have been lured by its huge prize funds and no-cut events, which include a team format. The split means several of the world’s best are not competing at this week’s Players Championship in Florida where Spieth was speaking.
Rory McIlroy, who is playing in the tournament, has voiced concerns that “fans are losing interest” in watching golf because of the fragmented nature of the men’s professional game. Monahan has also accepted fans are “tired of hearing about conflict, money and who is getting what” but has insisted talks are “accelerating” towards a “positive outcome”.
